Constitutional law attorneys handle cases involving the construction and interpretation of federal and state constitutions, including individual rights and governmental powers. Constitutional law cases can involve issues like First Amendment rights -- such as freedom of speech, press, and religion -- and the checks and balances on authority among different branches of government. Most of the federal constitutional rights are found in the Bill of Rights, that was created originally as a limitation on the action by the federal government, but many of those rights are also applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Belen is a city in Valencia County, New Mexico, United States. Belen is Spanish for Bethlehem and over time has gained the nickname "Hub City" because of the Belen Cutoff of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The Cutoff made it possible for many more trains to traverse east and west across the United States. Prior to the Belen Cutoff train traffic came through the steep Raton Pass on the Colorado and New Mexico border. To this day, an average of 110 trains travel through Belen in a 24-hour period on the Southern Transcon. Belen also has the only Harvey House Museum in the state of New Mexico. The population was 6,901 at the 2000 census. Belen is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area.